origami_itto wrote:Thank you for reading.
I can't find where I mentioned retreating, can you point it out for me?
I yield, and when the enemy’s force is spent, I counterattack.... The great initial force is absorbed into the trampoline, and when it is spent, it is returned into the body that delivered it and the trampoline returns to a neutral state. In physics this sort of interaction is known as elastic force. It’s the same force at play with a bouncing rubber ball.
twocircles13 wrote:The way I have been shown yielding and neutralization by other taiji practitioners is, the opponent pushes my arm. I absorb his force by allowing him to shift me in my stance. This loads his energy into my rear leg and muscles (or spine or arms or all these)
....
If you have another method, I would love to banish my assumptions.
Bao wrote:twocircles13 wrote:The way I have been shown yielding and neutralization by other taiji practitioners is, the opponent pushes my arm. I absorb his force by allowing him to shift me in my stance. This loads his energy into my rear leg and muscles (or spine or arms or all these)
....
If you have another method, I would love to banish my assumptions.
That's how beginners are taught and how many intermediate practitioners play.
The problem is that your opponent can follow your movements and fill in the gap.
A good opponent will trap you and won’t let you escape.
I prefer to direct his force away directly upon touch and connect with his center as soon as possible.
Everything is about timing, so it's better to always be one step ahead.
Also, I don't shift my weight very much, I prefer to keep a forward stance and the weight in my front foot.
origami_itto wrote: I know we differ on this and I haven't been able to quite articulate it, but, contextually and conditionally, I'd say that I'm connecting to their tension. That's the handle I use to move the rest, regardless of where their physical center or centerline or center of gravity might be. The tension connects me to their "center" the way gravity connects ME to the center of the earth, and they're providing it, unless they're collapsed, at which point, yeah, hunting for something to find purchase on.
When I push on my teacher, he doesn't run away or try to hide his center, he uses my tension to take away my "a place to stand" as Archimedes might say. The coolest little tricks seem to come from dynamically changing the classes and arrangements of levers in the system.
origami_itto wrote:Hey man, play your "game" any way you like.
So long as you're winning, you're getting your reward, right?
everything wrote:so very superficially
step in almost linearly and "win"
circle and "win"
follow and "win"
on the "inside" it's the same, though. "take center" also the same. what Bao says sounds like "xingyi". on a tangent, we should talk about xingyi and bagua a lot more, taijiquan a lot less
Bao wrote:
It's not about linearity or "attacking" the centerline. It's about feeling your opponents balance and controlling it, and also sinking and mentally staying lower than his center. Hard to describe.... But when you touch a lesser skilled opponent, he should be automatically become unrooted, unstable, unbalanced. You force him to stay either on his toes or heels. Then you can throw him away effortlessly. It's all about adjusting to his posture sensitivity, tingjin, it's very different from attacking linearly.
origami_itto wrote: if you are "equally skilled" ... yeah, then what? "win" 50/50 ratio?
Bao wrote:origami_itto wrote: if you are "equally skilled" ... yeah, then what? "win" 50/50 ratio?
Again, I don't see it as "winning" or "loosing". The person who is better at controlling his own center will always be the "better" player. The rest is unimportant.
origami_itto wrote:Bao wrote:origami_itto wrote: okay, yeah, sure, nothing works against everybody all the time. I mean, show me what does.
But then it's a question of the intention of the activity and the skills you're trying to cultivate.
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